Rage of the Si'Frant
by Alex Foster
Summary: When an ancient cult looks to Link as a savior, he must find a way to deliver them to freedom without sacrificing their high ideals. Meanwhile, Zelda must decide between conscience and the laws that give Link discretion over who wishes on the Triforce.
1. Chapter One

Title: Rage of the Si'Frant

Author: Alex Foster

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Category: Drama

Rating: PG

Summary: When an ancient cult looks to Link as a savior, he must find a way to deliver them to freedom without sacrificing their high ideals. Meanwhile, Zelda must decide between conscience and the laws that give Link discretion over who wishes on the Triforce.

Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created and owned by Nintendo. No money is being made and no infringement is intended.

Author's Notes: This story makes several references to an earlier story of mine called _Darkness Rising_. Fortunately, you do not have to read that story to understand this one. Exposition is indeed an author's friend. Even without having read _Darkness Rising_, I am sure the readers will understand and hopefully enjoy this fic. Also, the format of this story is chapter-by-chapter rather than individual parts, and that is very different for me. Because of this, the chapters will be smaller than what I normally post, but hopefully the story will be of the same quality. If these notes haven't turned you away, there is an afterword at the end of chapter nine. Thank you for reading and I look forward to hearing your comments.

* * *

Do not go gentle into that good night,

Old age should burn and rave at close of day;

Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Dylan Thomas

* * *

Chapter One

"How many men did they kill?" Zelda asked as she stormed down the corridors of Hyrule Castle.

Around her, palace guards and members of the palace staff scrambled to keep up with her brisk stride. She was clad in a dark green dress made of the finest silk; the skirt billowed about her legs and narrowed at her waist, and silk in the design of leaves and vines crossed over each other along her bodice. On anyone else the dress would have been frilly, soft, a conceited statement on the weakness of womanhood, but Zelda wore it the way a soldier wore armor.

"None, ma'am," one of the guards around her said. "They didn't kill any."

"Please, Princess," another guard said, "let us secure the throne room before you enter."

"Has Link been notified?" Zelda asked, ignoring the young man's plea.

The guard that had spoke first pulled the hood of his chainmail shirt up and said, "Yes, ma'am."

Zelda rounded the last turn before arriving at the throne room, her accompaniment of guards trailing behind. The antechamber opened before her; the throne room was a long hall with high-set windows and skylights providing most of the light. In front of the raised dais was a roped off section for petitioners seeking an audience with the Princess of Hyrule. Normally messengers and members of the palace staff filled the room, but today palace guards took their places.

A legion of soldiers, easily a hundred strong, filled the room. The footsoldiers had their swords and pikes drawn and the archers stood in the wings with bows strung and arrows nocked. In the eye of the controlled storm of soldiers was a group of three men and two women.

"Make room for the Princess!" one of Zelda's guards called.

A ripple of worry passed through the assemblage, but they did not hesitate to open a path for Zelda. She marched through the throng with her head high, careful not to look directly at the group surrounded by her guards, and took up position in front of the throne.

It had only been little over a year since turmoil nearly destroyed all that Zelda had built. In the middle of a drought, a vile creature of magic called a Si'Ra had seized control of the throne and forced Zelda into hiding with Link. After learning the Si'Ra intended to invoke a prophecy to bring about the end of the world, she and the Knight of the Triforce had returned from Calatia and reclaimed the castle from the Si'Ra.

It had been over a year, but the members of the staff still worried about crossing their ruler again. A year ago, the palace guards would not have been so quick to allow her in the throne room with such dangerous guests.

Zelda cleared her throat. "I am Princess Zelda of Hyrule," she said to the group of people in the center of the guard assemblage. "State your business in my country. Now."

A man stepped forward from the group. Like the others around him, he was clad in a long gray tunic and held himself with an easy, adroit attitude. Compared to the others in his party, he seemed to be the oldest by a number of years. Deep wrinkles lined his face and his hair was thinning and completely gray. He spoke with a slow and measured tone. "My name is Pav, holder of the Criv, wearer of the Mik of Canor, and representative of the Si'Frant. I am honored to be allowed an audience, Princess Zelda."

"The kindness is not returned," Zelda said coolly. "State your business in my land, and then I shall decide whether or not to let my guards indulge themselves."

The Si'Ra had not come alone: he had come with a slave named Vox. Link later learned that Vox was a member of a community known as the Si'Frant. Fervently loyal, the Si'Frant were personal guards and servants to the Si'Ra. They followed the dark creatures with a religious like intensity.

Pav bowed slightly at the waist and did not look intimidated. "We are here to see one of your Knights of the Triforce," he said in an irritatingly placid tone.

Zelda nearly stumbled in surprise. One of her Knights? Didn't they know there was only one left in the world? What did they want with Link?

Before she could answer, a soft but authoritative voice from the back of the chamber said, "You have found one."

All eyes turned to the sound of the voice. Link stood confidently in the entranceway. Tall, lean, and clad in a simple red tunic and dark trousers, he wore an air of authority about him like a cloak. He wore the Master Sword at his waist; its finely tooled baldric over his right shoulder. Light shone proudly off the sword's winged hilt and joined Triforce symbol.

Zelda drew a deep breath when she saw him. She was at once relieved and afraid. Something about his presence never failed to calm something inside of her, but she now feared for his safety. Vox had nearly killed him a year ago in a desperate battle that had extended all the way to the roof of the castle.

His blue-eyed gaze met hers briefly, and then he looked to the Si'Frant. His unspoken message was clear: "I don't like you here with them."

"You have found me," he said again, and started marching down the promenade. Palace guards scrambled to make a path for him. "What do you want with the Knights?"

"_You_ are a Knight?" Pav asked, surprised.

Link climbed to the first step leading to the dais and turned to face the Si'Frant. He was directly between Zelda and the Si'Frant. "That's right," he said. "I may not wear armor or any other sort of regalia, but my blood is from the old lines. I am the only Knight of the Triforce in Hyrule, the last anywhere."

Pav looked to his group then back to Link. "Forgive us for not being better prepared," he said. "Our condolences are with you and your country."

Zelda highly doubted their sincerity, but held her tongue.

"Thank you," Link said. "Now, what is your business with me?"

Pav tipped his head slightly in a show of respect. "Link, last Knight of the Triforce, I Pav, holder of the Criv, and wearer of the Mik of Canor, offer the loyalty and service of the Si'Frant to you. We are yours." As one, the collection of Si'Frant dropped to their knees and bowed their heads until they were touching the floor.

Slowly, Link turned to look at Zelda. His expression was one of astonishment. "Well," he said softly, "this is new."


	2. Chapter Two

****

Chapter Two

The Wasteland of Canor. A barren landscape made up of long dead trees and scrubby that stretched to the edge of the explored world. The bones of dead wildlife fought to stay above the thick gray sand that swept across Canor with a mighty fury. Only the strongest of survivors could remember a time when lush forests had covered the landscape of Canor. Merchants and travelers had cut roads through the heavy forest seeking the southern land of Hyrule that lay beyond the forbidding Death Mountain, but that was long ago, and Canor was now lost to the ages. Few maps even marked Canor anymore, and those that still do, mark it with the title 'There be monsters here!'

Impa threw the leather bound tome down as though it had burned her. "What are we looking for, old man?" she asked, more than a little exasperated.

Duncan, her dark skinned traveling companion, turned from his stack of books. "I will know it when we find it," was his reply. That had been his reply since they had made it through the Canor Wasteland eight months earlier.

They were standing within a pentagon shaped oracle that rose impressively from the soft land around them. In the center of the oracle was a round teleport pad. Since arriving at the shrine, Impa had used that pad numerous times to visit a haunting place known as the Chamber of Tears.

When she was a little girl, Impa had heard myths about the Chamber of Tears, the grand palace built by the Gods and Goddesses for the use of those greater than men, but she had never believed in its existence, or that she would one day walk its floor.

To help fight the Si'Ra, Duncan had convinced her more than a year ago to join him on a pilgrimage to the Chamber of Tears in effort to steal whatever objects of magic the Si'Ra had collected in its stay there. And although Duncan knew the Si'Ra had been beaten by Link and Zelda, he still thought it a wise idea to chance a visit.

"We have found things of great magic," Impa said, gesturing to the books and idols cluttered about the oracle. "Some with magic I don't even understand. Surely one must be what you're looking for!"

"They're not, Impa," Duncan said. His voice harsh and severe as always. "But I will know when I see it." That was completely metaphorical, of course, as Duncan was blind. Around his useless eyes he wore a band of ragged cloth that looked to be older than he was.

"Then why don't you go down there," Impa muttered, turning back to her stack of tomes.

Duncan was silent for a long moment. "I believe you will find it today," he said at last. "I am ready to aid you whenever you wish to go back down."

"Today!?" Impa cringed at the thought of going back down there. "We haven't yet finished with all the stuff I brought up last time."

"It is not here, Impa," Duncan said, obviously trying to force his tone softer. "This time may be the last time you must go down."

Impa drew a deep breath and released it slowly. Kicking a book out of her way that was probably eons older than she was, the Sheikah walked to the pad. Standing in the center of the circle, she threw her arms wide. "Do your magic, old man."

* * *

The white light faded and Impa was in the Chamber of Tears.

As always, a wave of nausea slammed into her and threatened to drop her to her knees. Her stomach knotted and bile burned the back of her throat. Grief and loss twisted together within her, like specters of a long forgotten atrocity.

Then, Duncan's protection found her. In an instant, all that plagued her was gone. Her skin was clammy and her brow wet, but the grief and sickness was gone.

The underground palace lay guarded by magic intended to break visitors not familiar with its power. Impa was not familiar with that type of spell, and had no counteraction for it, but Duncan did. Before her first trip into the Chamber, she had suspected Duncan of being a wizard. Now that she had experienced the Chamber and felt the protection he somehow allowed her, she was sure of it. Duncan could not enter the Chamber—he said the reason had to do with his blindness—but could go into a meditative state and keep the most dangerous wards from finding her.

Stepping down from the platform, Impa took stock of her surroundings. The Chamber of Tears was a circular room with tall pillars of flame set several paces apart providing most of the heat and light. In the center of the chamber was a wide platform for sacrifices, just wide enough for a person to lay upon.

Impa had first thought this single room to be the entire Chamber of Tears, but quickly learned that there were many side tunnels leading even deeper underground. It was in those halls that Impa did the most of her exploring.

Retracing her steps from her last visit, Impa started down one of the tunnels. Flames, much smaller than the ones in the main room, danced hypnotically in lamps set along the smooth stone walls, seemingly burning without fuel. The air was stale and carried a faint hint of the moldy odor of age.

The click of Impa's boots echoed up and down the long, dark corridor. After nearly an hour of walking, Impa came upon several archways. Some opened to more halls, while others lead to single-room chambers. Those rooms, she'd discovered, were small libraries, sleeping quarters, mess rooms, and small chapel like rooms.

Ignoring the rooms she had already explored, Impa turned down another corridor. In the gloomy depths of the labyrinth, there was no way to measure time so Impa took to counting her steps to clock distance. By her eightieth step, she came to more rooms.

Crouching, she examined the open doorway before entering one of the rooms. Duncan, she knew, couldn't protect her against all the wards. In the previous rooms, she'd discovered several traps made of magic. One temporarily took away her ability to see color when she accidentally triggered it; that hadn't seemed too bad until she entered the room and found the floor made up of several different colored tiles. Watching a small bug run along the floor, she learned what the penalty was for stepping on a wrong tile: the small creature left a white tile for what she later learned was red and burst immediately into flames.

She learned to watch her step, and other bugs, very carefully after that incident.

Finding no traps along the archway, Impa entered the room before her. There were no lamps in this room and darkness pressed against her from all sides. The hollowness that seemed to permeate the entire Chamber was greater here, as though something very bad had chosen this room as a focus point. A small warning sounded in the back of her head.

Impa took a step back, thinking to return to the dimly alighted hall, but never made it. Something hard slammed into her side and forced her to the ground. For a moment she thought a trap had activated, but then she heard the screaming. She was not alone in the Chamber of Tears.

In the rectangle of light spilling in from the corridor, she saw the figure climb to its feet and reach for its waist. Not bothering to wait and see if it was going for a weapon, Impa came to her knees and struck. She had given her belt knife to Zelda a year ago, but a Sheikah was never helpless. A Sheikah _was_ a weapon.

Impa's first blow hit the thing in its abdomen; it doubled over with a cry of pain and shock. Her second punch made contact with the thing's head and sent it reeling. It stumbled to the doorway and clung to the wall for a moment, then turned and ran from the room.

It was a man.

Impa caught a glimpse of him as he disappeared down the hall. He was shorter than she was and quite thin, almost dangerously so. He was clad in a long gray tunic and torn black trousers. She pushed herself to her feet and started after him. "Wait! Come back!"

He was lying prone several feet away when she made it to the hallway. Impa slowly approached him, keeping her hands raised in a ready defense. The man was dirty and his gray hair stringy and knotted.

"Who are you?" she asked.

He didn't stir.

Cautiously, Impa touched him with the toe of her boot. "Are you okay?"

For a moment there was no response, then his clawlike hand lashed out and grabbed her right ankle. He savagely yanked on her leg and pulled her down.

"Please," he said. His voice a cruel rasp. "Please help us."

Impa twisted to keep him from getting a better grip on her leg. "Let go of me!" she yelled.

He looked at her then. His eyes were bloodshot and his gaze desperate. "Please," he said again, "help us. Join with me!"

Impa grimaced and brought her left boot down on the hand clamping her leg. His hand lost its grip underneath the pressure of her heel and slid to the floor. Impa pressed down; the wrist cracked with the sound of a wet branch being snapped in two and he recoiled with a howl. She struck out again and kicked him in the chest. He flew back into the mouth of another side room, and, into a trap.

There was a blue flash and his charred corpse hit the stone floor with an empty thud. A small stone, about the shape of an index finger, rolled out of his burned clothes and into the hall.

Impa didn't stop to examine it; she clambered to her feet and ran back up the corridor. She didn't stop until she reached the warp pad to aboveground. Had she stopped, however, she would have noticed that small round stone clinging to her skirt's hem like a spider on a dog's back.


	3. Chapter Three

****

Chapter Three

"What do you mean 'we are yours,'" Link asked.

Pav looked up at him, blinking. "What else could it mean, milord?" he said. "We are now your servants, your Si'Frant."

After sending all the Si'Frant save for Pav to guest quarters with three fully armed palace guards each, Zelda, Link, Pav, and the Captain of the Hylian Guard Glenn Tarmag had moved to the castle's great hall. Tall tapestries detailing historic events and famous legends hung along the grand meeting hall. Fireplaces wide enough for two men to stand abreast in lay at either end of the chamber. Smells of baked bread, cooked stew, and boiling seedpods drifted in from the expansive kitchen just beyond the great hall. Tarmag watched silently from the shadows as Link paced, Pav sat peacefully at one of the many tables in the room, and Princess Zelda stood on the dais, scowling distrustfully at the lone Si'Frant.

"'Milord,'" Link muttered with a shake of his head. "Don't ever call me that."

"As you wish, Master," Pav corrected.

"Or that!" Link said quickly, waving his hands as though warding off an evil spirit. "That's not any better. My name is Link, call me that."

"As you wish...Master Link."

Link and Zelda shared an exasperated glance.

"Why would you want Link as your lord?" Zelda asked. "His kind have been an enemy of the Si'Ra since the earliest recorded history. Why do you now wish to serve him?"

Pav looked down before speaking. "The Si'Ra are now gone," he said quietly. "Master Link killed Fegobvesjarod. Because of that, we now serve him."

Technically, Link knew, he hadn't had anything to do with Jarod's death: it had been Zelda, using two pieces of the Triforce, that opened a portal to the underworld and cast the Si'Ra down into it. He thought it best not to correct Pav, though.

"To the victor goes the spoils?" Zelda asked dryly.

"Princess," Link said warningly and with a slight shake of his head. This was too important of be flip about. "Pav, I will not advocate slavery of any kind. You and your people have the ability to choose for yourselves, live for yourselves, you don't need a master to be happy."

"We choose to be your servants," Pav said simply, not understanding what Link was telling him.

"I am my own person, just as you are," the Knight of the Triforce said. "And you cannot decide something like this for me. I refuse your offer."

Pav's eyes when wide. "But you can't! We are yours! It would not cost you anything. We seek not to harm you or your friends, just to be bonded to you."

"It would cost me everything," Link said calmly. "It would cost me my soul and you would lose yours as well. Slavery, even when entered into by one's own volition, is still slavery. I will not be part of it."

"B-but you have given your loyalty to the crown of Hyrule," Pav said. "You have entered into a pact to serve the Princess."

Link shook his head. "I am not ruled by her, or the bonds of my ancestry; I am my own man. I, like everyone else in life, must only answer to my own conscience and my own god. Princess Zelda is my friend, she always has been and always will be, but she does not rule me, nor I her."

"But you are a Knight of the Triforce," Pav said, desperate now. "Knights have always been the champions of the Hylian crown. You have taken up the battles of the country's rulers, enforced their laws, and planted their flag wherever it pleased them. How can you now reject something that is for you alone?"

"I don't know what you've been taught," Zelda said, "but the Knights have never been underneath the command of the throne. They protect the Triforce from misuse, nothing more. Link is not a secret warrior for me to call upon whenever I need him. Yes, the Knights have done services for sitting rulers in the past, but they do not answer directly to the crown. In fact, there are laws that I must follow giving support to the opinion and decision making powers of the Knights of the Triforce. If I ask Link for help, I am asking _Link_ not a Knight."

Pav was silent for a long moment. He looked suddenly not like an old man, but like a lost child.

"I'm sorry, Pav," Link said with genuine sincerity. "But you must find your own way."

Pav slowly stood. The aging Si'Frant leader's shoulders drooped as though being made to carry a great weight on them. His gray tunic hung limp over his sylphlike form. "I must discuss this with my people," he said. "Princess, Master Link, I must request my leave."

Zelda nodded. "The guards in the hall will take you to the guest rooms."

"Thank you, Princess." Pav turned and walked from the great hall.

* * *

"Well," Link said when the Si'Frant was out of earshot, "what do you think of that?"

"I think they smell bad," Glenn Tarmag said, stepping from the shadows.

Link laughed and ran his hand back through his hair. "Figuratively or literally?"

"Both."

Zelda didn't share in their laughter. "I want those people out of my castle," she said, and stepped down from the dais. She moved to Link's side, drawing a small amount of security from his presence. "I don't want that...that cult underneath my roof."

"Give the word, Highness, and it'll be done by dawn," Tarmag said. His fingers twitched on the hilt of his sheathed sword. The head of the Hylian military appeared quite ready to do whatever was necessary to carry out the Si'Frant's eviction.

Link held up a finger. "You'll do no such thing," he said warningly. "Those people, regardless of what their religion was or is, have been offered a chance to grow and I think we should help them embrace that chance."

"Oh, I don't mind them growing," Zelda said. "I am big proponent of growth, but I would much prefer it if they grew elsewhere."

"They will be gone before you know it, princess."

Zelda scoffed and said, "That's what I thought about Jarod."


	4. Chapter Four

****

Chapter Four

With shaking hands, Impa poured herself a cup of Duncan's 'medicine.' The vile liquid tasted suspiciously like alcohol to her, but he claimed it was a special concoction that helped relieve the arthritis in his knees.

She was standing in the tent that they had setup near the oracle not long after the trek through Canor. Since there was only room enough for one to sleep comfortably, Impa and Duncan took turns watching over the camp while the other slept.

Outside stood two horses that, at times, seemed to be keeping watch over both the camp and Impa and Duncan. When Link and Zelda left Calatia for Hyrule to stop the Si'Ra, they couldn't take Epona with so the Knight had left his prized mare behind. Several days later, Epona found Impa and Duncan and had not left their side since. If Impa didn't know better, she'd say the mare was following orders to keep them safe. The other horse was a shaggy gelding Duncan had not-too-affectionately named Hard Biscuit because riding him was so uncomfortable. Unbeknownst to Link and Zelda, they had purchased Hard Biscuit from an innkeeper in Calatia with the journey to the Chamber of Tears in mind. That horse regarded them all with weary eyes, but seemed content to follow Epona's lead.

"What has gotten into you, old woman!" Duncan demanded as he entered the tent. "Are you all right, Impa?"

"There was someone down there." The medicine burned her throat and induced a coughing fit, but it helped her stop trembling. She was not used to feeling this way; all of the difficult, horrifying, ungodly things she had seen and done in her long life had not prepared her for the Chamber of Tears. She wished she hadn't agreed to accompany Duncan.

"That's impossible," Duncan said. "There hasn't been a soul down there for centuries."

"Tell that to the man I just killed." Impa felt her forehead as though checking for a fever. Her skin was moist.

"You killed? Down there?" He asked the two questions as though one would directly effect the other.

"Yes," she said, watching him closely. "Does that mean something?"

"No," Duncan said quickly. "What did he look like?"

"He was sickly, not very tall, and clad in a long gray tunic."

"Did he have a weapon?" Duncan asked.

"No, I'm unhurt." Impa swallowed more of his medicine. It didn't taste as bad the second time.

Duncan thought for a moment then nodded. "We'll pack up and leave immediately," he declared.

"Are you crazy, old man?" Impa snapped. "We finally discover something down in that bloody place and you want to leave?"

"You want to go back down?!" he countered heatedly.

Impa wiped her chin with the back of her hand and shook her head. "No, but I have to. People should not be down in the Chamber, but there are—_was_ one at least. I have to find out why. This could be what you've been searching for."

"No, Impa." Duncan took a step toward her. "I'm not going to let you endanger yourself for my personal quest." He took her shoulders and gently kissed her cheek. "But thank you for offering."

Impa stared at him wide-eyed. This was even stranger than being attacked in a long forgotten home of the gods. Duncan was being nice. Duncan was being caring. She had to get out of the tent right now.

"I have to go down there," she said finally. "For my sake, at least."

"I'd rather you wouldn't."

Impa swallowed hard. "I think I'd better," she said.

"Okay."

* * *

The tent flap closed behind Impa. Duncan listened as her footfalls faded. He reached into one of his many pockets and withdrew a small stone, about the shape of an index finger.

Duncan gave a short, bark of a laugh. He now had what he'd been looking for all along.

* * *

The white light faded and Impa was again in the Chamber of Tears. She held her breath and her stomach muscles tight as the seconds ticked by before Duncan's protection found her. A longer time seemed to pass before the plague that infested the Chamber abated. Impa wondered if Duncan was reaching the limits of his powers...Or if he purposely considered not protecting her? Impa frowned at that. The thought had come unbidden and with an unsettling feeling of helplessness.

"You're getting jumpy, old woman," the Sheikah muttered to herself. She pushed those unsettling thoughts away and stepped from the warp pad. The protection followed her, smooth and unimpaired as always.

At the mouth of the archway she'd previously gone down, Impa stopped and pulled one of the lamps from the wall. Flakes of granite floated to the ground like dust motes in a ray of sunlight. The flame coming from the lamp's long spout flickered once, twice, but stayed lit. Shadows twisted about the small circle of light like long forgotten souls experiencing torture in the underworld. The comparison of that mental image to the fate of the Si'Ra was not lost on Impa.

Wetting dry lips, she started down into the labyrinth. She arrived at the same junction as before and then began to count her steps. She held herself ready for another attack as she neared eighty.

Approaching the next junction, Impa smelled the sickly scent of burning flesh. She saw that the magic of the trap had reduced her attacker to a pile of white ash surrounded by seared clothes. She felt no pity for him.

Impa paused in the doorway of the room that had hid her attacker. Holding the lamp up, she cast a pool of light that filled the room with flickering shadows. The chamber was empty, but she could now see another archway with stairs leading downward. Mindful of traps, she walked to and started down the stairs.

Again, she counted her steps. At two hundred-fifty-three, the narrow staircase opened up into a long antechamber. Lamps were set along the walls, but their pools of light did not reach the center of the floor. Bundles, covered with brown cloth, lay in neat rows of two along the sides of the enormous chamber.

Impa's breath caught in her throat when she saw the shape of a man under one of those brown pieces of cloth. Turning slowly about, Impa realized that all the bundles were covered people. Smaller bundles were women and children, but they were all in the same state.

She was standing in a mammoth tomb.


	5. Chapter Five

****

Chapter Five

After walking Zelda to her private chambers and bidding her a goodnight, Link headed for his own chambers. Before leaving the castle several years ago after removing Zelda's sleeping curse he had occupied one of the common rooms, but now he preferred to keep one of the small guest chambers as his own.

Despite Zelda's many objections, he just had not felt a need to move into one of the more luxurious rooms. To him, a private room was just a place to sleep. The castle was his home; where Zelda was was his home; where he put his head down to sleep was an unimportant detail.

Loosening the Master Sword's baldric, Link entered his small, sparsely decorated room. He lit a lamp, turned to finish undressing for bed...and stopped cold. A Si'Frant was waiting for him.

Fighting the gut reaction to pull his sword free, Link blinked several times and said, "Ah, hello. Can I help you with something?" His gaze automatically searched the shadows for anyone else who might be with his visitor. He found no one.

The Si'Frant sat on the corner of his bed with her hands neatly folded on her lap. Sex was nearly impossible to determine at first glance because of the olive skin tone and high cheekbones and pulled back hair shared by all Si'Frant, but Link assumed his visitor to be a woman because of two slight bumps underneath her gray tunic.

"I did not mean to startle you," she said. Her smooth tone offered no clue if she was sincere or not. "I wished to speak with you, Master Link."

Link set the lamp down on the mantel of the fireplace and re-tightened the sword's baldric. "Do you make it a habit to sit in the dark, Miss—?"

"Vas," she supplied.

"Vas," Link tested the word. "Your people like the v consonant, don't you?"

She didn't laugh at his joke; just raised a pale eyebrow slightly.

"Yeah, well, what can I do for you?"

Vas stood and watched him with unblinking eyes. "You can Bond with me," she said.

"Excuse me?"

"With us. The Si'Frant," she said. "You can Bond with us, tonight if you so wish."

"I went over this with Pav," Link began. "If you need—"

"We will die without your Bond," Vas interjected.

Link took a moment to discern if he'd heard her correctly. "If you are talking about suicide, then—"

"Not self-sacrifice," Vas said. "Without a Bond-Master, the Si'Frant will perish. You are our only hope. Even now my brothers and sisters lay ill and dying in the Chamber of Tears without the presence of their Si'Ra Bond-Master."

Link's mouth hung open. He didn't know what to say. "I think I need to see Pav again," was what he finally managed.

* * *

"The Bond is very ancient," Pav explained. "It goes back farther than most of our history tapestries—even your land's history novels do not speak of the Bond. It is a linkage, a mode of shared energy and strength between god and moral."

Pav had joined Link, Vas, and they were all seated around one of the empty tables in the castle's great hall. Darkness had swallowed most of the hall, but lit torches and oil lamps on the walls provided small pools of flickering light.

"But that doesn't explain how you can be dying," Link said.

"It is a part of us now," Pav said. "The first generation of Si'Frant did not experience the Bond the same as Vas and I now feel it. We were born to it; when I swallowed my first breath of air, I also took in the Bond. We all have."

"And now Jarod is gone," Link added.

"Now our Lord is gone," Pav agreed. "Without that link, we will not be able to survive. Our numbers have already diminished greatly and continue to decline with each passing day."

Link was silent for a long time. He sat apart from the world around him, trying to govern the numerous thoughts running through his mind. He thought about Pav's words, about the Si'Frant, about slavery, and about what he knew he could not do and what he feared he might do. "How long?" the Knight asked quietly.

Pav met the Link's gaze and said, "We do not know."

"Will you now help us?" Vas asked. "Have we offered enough proof that this is not an elaborate stratagem to harm you or the leaders of this country?"

Link bit the inside of his mouth and glanced at her. "My refusal has nothing to do with doubting your honesty," he said. "I will not be a part of slavery."

"You hate us that much?" Vas said, her eyes hooded with resignation.

Link shook his head. "I don't hate anyone, Vas. But I see that it would be a greater injustice to the Si'Frant as a people to rob from them what is theirs by birth: their freedom to be individuals. That's not mine to take; it's not for anyone to take. All people, regardless of personal or religious beliefs, are entitled to certain inalienable rights and the basic concept of freedom.

"For me to make an exception for you, for the Si'Frant, would be to deny everything that I, and people that I care for, have sacrificed much to preserve."

"You would let us die?" Pav asked. "That makes no difference in your decision?"

Link drew a deep breath and released it slowly. For that, he had no answer.

* * *

In her years of friendship with Link, Zelda had learned to expect oddities. From him being able to sneak in and out of her palace without detection seemingly at will, to him having friends half way around the world that were ready to fight by his side after just a short time of knowing him.

Link was a peculiar man, Zelda had learned not long after meeting him, who saw even the most grandiose of problems with a simple unwavering viewpoint. Since that first meeting all those years ago, he had matured both mentally and physically much more than he might want to admit—at least to anyone but her—but his closely held concepts of right and wrong were still alive within him.

After more than a decade of putting up with Link's quirks and spirited sense of humor, she thought herself unable to be surprised.

That assumption was wrong.

Walking into the great hall, Zelda found the last Knight of the Triforce sound asleep on a table. He slept with one hand underneath his head and the other hanging lifelessly off the side of the table. He had undone the laces of his red tunic and shifted the Master Sword forward on his hip. He was very softly snoring.

With a shake of her head, Zelda walked to him. 'The guest chambers are not lowly enough for him?' she wondered. Was he now going to start sleeping in the streets like a vagabond?

"Link," she said, thinking to wake him.

He didn't stir.

"Link, wake up!"

He mumbled slightly and his dangling hand twitched.

Giving a sigh of exasperation, Zelda reached out, closed his mouth, and pinched his nose. After a moment, he came awake with a start.

"—ah, don't wake the wind fish," he called out before realizing where he was. "Zelda? What are you doing here?"

"What are _you_ doing here?!"

"I was sleeping," he answered, pulling himself up into a sitting position.

Zelda wanted to cut off his air supply again, but restrained herself. "I know that," she said. "Why were you in the great hall the whole night?"

"I wasn't here the whole night," he said. "I was here—what time is it?"

"A little after dawn."

"—a good part of the early morning," he finished.

"Why?"

He swung his still booted feet over the side of the table and stretched. "I was waiting."

"For what, or whom?" she asked.

A sudden rattle of crockery drew her and Link's attention to the archway leading to the kitchen. Mistress Senovich, head of the kitchen staff, stood there with a serving tray in hand. "I'm sorry, Your Highness," she said, "I didn't realize you were here. I thought Link might like some breakfast."

"It's all right, Senovich, bring it here," Zelda called out. Quietly to Link, she added, "This had better not be what you were waiting for."

He shook his head and smiled at Senovich. "Thank you very much, Edina."

The head of the kitchen staff set the serving tray down next to Link and took a step back. "I'm sorry to have bothered the two of you," she said with a curtsy. "If you need anything else, Sir Link, just ring."

Link was already reaching for a slice of bread and the honey jar. "I'll do that," he said absently.

Zelda watched as he slathered honey on the bread. He moved to take a bite, but stopped just short of his mouth. He thought for a moment, then offered her the slice of sweet bread.

She shook her head, amused and touched at the same time. "I've already eaten, but thank you."

He shrugged and took a bite. "Your loss," he said while chewing.

"Why were you waiting here?" she asked again.

"I was—"he held the slice of bread away from him, peering at it closely—"this tastes funny."

"It's from the stores of wheat Queen Seline sent us last winter!" Senovich called out before disappearing into the kitchen.

"Oh," Link said, then took another bite.

"Link," Zelda said tiredly, "please...?"

"Sorry. I'm waiting for a report from your private physician."

Zelda's eyes went wide and her countenance immediately sobered. "Is something wrong?" she demanded. "Are you ill."

"Not me." He took another bite of his sweet bread. "The Si'Frant."

Zelda drew a deep, relieved breath. "Should I care?" she asked.

"Yes."

She shook her head. "They wouldn't care if I was ill."

He gave her a disparaging look. "Which is exactly why you should care," he admonished. "Respect thy enemy, princess."

Zelda hugged herself and rocked back on her heels. "So what's wrong with them?" she asked.

"According to Pav, the Si'Frant are dying without their Bond to the Si'Ra," Link said. "They tried to shift control of the Bond to me, but I refused their offer."

"Is what they say true?" she asked.

Link finished his slice of bread and shrugged. "That's what the physician is going to tell me."

As though on cue, the double doors at the end of the hall opened and the doctor appeared. Short and bent with age, Birni Fadisous had been the personal physician to each crowned ruler of Hyrule for over half a century. He wore a black skullcap over his graying, wispy hair. His dark robes twisted about his legs as he made his way to the Princess and Knight.

"Forgive me for intruding, Your Highness," he said. His strong tone betraying his elderly body. "I have the report you requested, Sir Link."

"No need to apologize, Birni." Link hopped from the table and came to his full height. "What do you have for me?"

Birni folded his hands together and spoke in a slow and measured tone, giving each word consideration before speaking. "I thoroughly examined each Si'Frant and determined that they could indeed be speaking the truth."

Link nodded thoughtfully and Zelda frowned. "But...?" she asked.

Birni adjusted the thick spectacles resting on his nose. "But I cannot be sure of their honesty," he finished.

"How can that be?" Link asked. "Are they ill or not?"

Birni considered his next words very carefully. "They are dying...but so is everyone. I predict that within two to three years each of those Si'Frant will be dead. However, I have no training in their physiology; that life span could be normal for the race."

"I don't follow," Link said.

Birni unclasped his hands and held them out before him. "Some people age and die differently from others. A Zora lives only half as long as most Hylians, and compared to the average Goron a Hylian barely lives. One's health and life span is relative to race. Without more knowledge of the Si'Frant, I cannot say for certain if they are being honest or not. I'm sorry, Sir Link."

Link nodded again. "Don't worry about it, Birni. I know you did the best you could."

"So, now what?" Zelda asked.

"Now," Link answered, "I go to plan number two."

"What's—" Zelda began, but stopped when she saw the expression on Link's face. "Oh no, not the Triforce."

"You know me so well, love."

"I really don't think the Triforce should be used that way, Link," she said.

"There's only one way to find out," Link said. "I'll go alone if I have to, princess, but I'd rather have you with me."

Zelda drew a deep breath, held it, and released it slowly. "Fine, fine," she said. "Let's go." She started for the doors.

Link stayed long enough to spread honey on two more slices of bread, place three strips of cheese on one slice and cover it with the other, then followed her out.

"See you soon," Birni said to Link, eyeing the sandwich.


	6. Chapter Six

****

Chapter Six

With soft boots moving silently across the marble floor, Vas walked through the empty halls of Hyrule Castle. She passed framed artwork wider than she was tall, statues of kings and heroes of ancient Hyrule, and busts of legendary Knights of the Triforce, but she saw none of those things. Hers was an intense, highly focused gaze. Stopping to admire artistic representations of her old enemies would serve no purpose today.

Behind her moved three palace guards. Two walking abreast of one another keeping a distance of five paces from her, and a third holding station ten paces behind the first two. There was obvious logic in their arrangement; if she attacked, and managed to make it past the first two, the third had several seconds before she reached him to formulate a counterattack. It was a standard, workable guarding form.

It was also one she could break easily.

If she so wished, she could leave these guards broken on the marble floor and vanish into the expansive castle within moments. A simple roundabout kick would knock one guard back, giving her an opening to thrust the points of her fingers into the soft unprotected neck of the second guard, shattering his windpipe and rendering him harmless to her while he died.

A couple of quick handchops to the first guard's side, right where his armor opened in an air vent, would break his ribs and drive them inward to penetrate his lungs and heart. Before that guard dropped to the ground, she would take his belt knife and launch it at the third guard, robbing him of his seconds of planning time. Vas knew her skills, owned completely what she could do, and was confident she would not miss. Within seconds she could kill three of Hyrule's best knights.

But she would not do any of that. She was under orders not to.

The way of the Si'Frant hadn't always been such a violent one; in fact at the height of the Si'Ra's power, they were just personal majordomos to the gods. It was after the Knights of the Triforce used a spell from the Triforce to imprison all but one of the Si'Ra in the underworld that the dictum of the Si'Frant turned to its modern interpretation.

Fegobvesjarod had selected one Si'Frant all those thousands of years ago to be his personal protector. To be the one to have the Bond elevated to something much, much more. With the new Bond, Fegobvesjarod had been able to pull small amounts of life energy through his Si'Frant disciple, returning to him some of what the Knights stole.

He had also taught that Si'Frant all the things he knew of attacking and defending, and granted that disciple the ability to pursue even more ways of fighting in order to teach himself. The rest of the Si'Frant had in turned learned from Fegobvesjarod's Exalted One, but none were ever able to beat, or even match, that privileged Si'Frant in combat.

That Exalted Si'Frant was Vox.

Armed with two of the few remaining weapons of the Si'Ra/Knights War, Vox had left the Chamber of Tears with Fegobvesjarod eons ago when the Si'Ra decided to pursue rumors of a prophet living in the wilds beyond Canor. The Si'Ra had dictated a new system of rule and succession to the Si'Frant and left them with a single command: "Wait for what is to come."

The Si'Frant did. Through generations of waiting, through generations of the Mik of Canor being passed down to the strongest and wisest of all Si'Frant, and through years of knowing the Knights of the Triforce were thriving while the world rebuilt and slowly forgot the war.

Then, just as unexpectedly as he left, Fegobvesjarod had returned with Vox still in tow only years ago.

Vas had been among the first to greet the long-absent god. Her low status had not allowed her to gaze directly at the Si'Ra, but she had bowed and offered the back of her neck to him. She did that for her life was his to dispose of at will. A Si'Frant could only pray his or her death would bring joy and fulfillment to the Si'Ra.

While she never looked upon the Si'Ra during his stay at the Chamber of Tears, she had Vox. To her eyes, he was even more magnificent than the history tapestries described. Without doubt, he was a walking weapon.

Vox had again taken up the chore of training the new generation of Si'Frant. Just as the tapestries said, he was beyond skilled. Vas had struggled to match his level of training, but prolonging their combat sessions was the most she ever managed.

She did win a small victory in Vox's eyes, however, with her effort. Once after a particularly hard session, he had sent all the students away save for her. That night, in the empty dogi, he began teaching her about pain.

He taught her to receive pain so that she might give it in the future. He was wild, and never once let up when she begged him to. An enemy would not offer mercy, he would say when she begged, so what good was mercy in training? But there was, she quickly learned, tenderness in the way he hurt her.

He was not doing it to be cruel, just to teach her to be better. He broke her so that she might be unbreakable in the face of the enemy.

For those lessons, and many other things, she owed Vox much.

Now, moving silently through the palace, Vas reflected on all Vox had taught her and realized just how easy it would be to cut a path through the rows of guards around the Si'Frant constantly. Fegobvesjarod had preferred subterfuge to open aggression, subtle trickery to blatant warfare. To expend resources needlessly, he decreed, was foolhardy and wasteful.

An army of Si'Frant would have followed Fegobvesjarod into Hyrule, but he had only taken Vox. So confident was he in whatever he'd learned in the prophecies. Even if his brothers failed to return, he had said, he would still win. The last Knight would choose wrong.

Rounding another corner, one of Vas' guards broke formation and took up position at the mouth of the corridor. The other two spread out, forming a defensive wedge. They knew this was her destination, most likely because the other Si'Frant had come here. That advanced knowledge offered Vas insight into the coordination of Hyrule's best troops.

Before her opened an antechamber large enough to hold several training dogies side by side. Tall pillars made of marble circled the room in groups of five and stretched to a vaulted ceiling high enough for hawks to fly unhampered. In the center of the room was a small pool. Carved gullies ran from the sides of the pool filtering down to water blossoming trees set in pots built into the hard floor.

Vas could only assume this was some sort of meeting hall or mediation chamber—these Hylians had odd ways and beliefs making it difficult to do anything but assume a great number of things.

Already clustered around the pool was the rest of the Si'Frant. Pav sat in the center of the group, calmly reflecting the wisdom that accompanied age. Beside him on one side was Verr, Pav's prized student and the only female Si'Frant save for Vas to make the journey to Hyrule. Next to him on the other side sat Xis, the youngest and most eager of the group; beside him sat Gil, Verr's clanmate and fellow student of Pav's.

Vas bowed to Pav and sat cross-legged next to Verr.

"Thank you all for coming," Pav said in their native tongue. The fifteen palace guards that stood in the wings of the large chamber would not be able to understand the words spoken at this meeting, and would not force the Si'Frant to speak a more common tongue. The Knight of the Triforce would not let the guards do such a thing.

"We must decide our fate from here," Pav continued. "Without the Bond, the Si'Frant will die."

"Another Bond-Master?" Verr asked. "Surely there must be another to transfer the Bond?"

Pav shook his head mournfully. "A Bond-Master must be schooled in magic. He or she must be able to handle the powers of life and death that is theirs to command."

"There are no other magic users in Hyrule?"

"Any others are beyond our knowledge," Pav said. "Save, of course, for the Princess."

"Then we make the offer to her," Gil said. "She would—"

"It is only the Knight's word that keeps her from executing us," Vas put in. "She would love to see us all die."

Xis frowned. "I do not understand how a knight can command a princess."

Pav was a long time in answering. "These people rule with a principal of all choices being respected no matter from whom they come. The Princess in theory would listen to the concerns of a lowly peasant with the same regard of listening to the Knight of the Triforce."

Vas scoffed. "Theory is hardly reality," she said.

Pav shrugged. "It is not our concern right now; we have far more pressing matters than their faulty government. Any other suggestions?"

Everyone of the Si'Frant glance downward in defeat save for Xis. "The Eye of Thanos," he said, his voice little more than a whisper. The name of Thanos had not been spoken since Fegobvesjarod shared with them the story of how he came into possession of the magical urn he used to touch the underworld.

Pav looked at him in shock. "We cannot open the Eye of Thanos," he said at last. "We possess no magic, or the right to do such a thing. That was our Master's prized trophy." Fegobvesjarod had implied to those close to him that he planned to open the Eye once his business in Hyrule was finished. He spoke of using it to alter the past.

"Then we take it to someone that can," Xis said insistently. "It is our one sure hope. We have kept it safely tucked away in the Chamber of Tears for years. If we were not meant to use it, then why has it not vanished from our protection?"

"You cannot begin to know the will of the Gods," Verr snapped. "How would it vanish? Would a thief just walk into the Chamber and leave with it?" she added mockingly.

"Enough of this," Pav commanded, the calm center of the angry storm brewing about him. "We are not accomplishing anything by turning on ourselves."

Vas' stomach folded at that statement. For the first time in more than three thousand years, the stench of dissention was in the air around the Si'Frant. The Ones Who Follow, she knew, had never experienced such fragmentation as they now did. The fall of the last Si'Ra had left them all in confused tatters. The other Si'Ra were imprisoned by an ungodly spell cast by the Triforce, but Fegobvesjarod had simply failed.

A god beat by the weaklings that populated this palace. It was bafflement that reached into the hearts of all Si'Frant and twisted. Many prayed for days without stopping even to eat or drink, but no answer had come. The Si'Frant were without question lost and confused at the absence of Fegobvesjarod and Vox.

The meeting continued for hours after Pav's call for order. They discussed many things that would have once been unthinkable to them all just years earlier. In the end, Pav concluded the gathering with an assurance that he would consider all options, even Xis' outlandish idea, and give them his decision soon.

Giving another bow to Pav, the Si'Frant rose and walked back to their respected quarters. The palace guards fell in step behind each without missing a beat.

* * *

Once shielded behind her room's door, Vas sat on the floor and traced a finger along the lip of her left boot. The soft leather gave easily underneath slight pressure. She searched until her fingertip touched something hard.

After a few moments of picking, she withdrew a long bodkin from its hidden sheath in her boot.

Vas sat back and considered the nearly foot long pointed blade. She didn't know what Pav would decide, and, in truth, didn't really care. That was his decision to make and she had no right under their law to insinuate otherwise. Given the fact that her life was at stake didn't change the law.

Vas, member of the last generation of the Si'Frant, sat alone in her quarters thinking blasphemous thoughts that, under normal conditions, would call for her immediate execution.

In that quiet stretch of time, she realized what she would do no matter what Pav's decision was. Gil and Verr might be the expert pupils of Pav's, but she, Vas, was the apprentice of Vox. If the Knight would not help them, then before they left Hyrule, she'd finish what her Master could not.

She would kill the last Knight of the Triforce.


	7. Chapter Seven

Chapter Seven

"You heard what Birni said, princess," Link was saying as he and Zelda walked down the empty cobblestone streets of Hyrule Castle Town. "There is no proof the Si'Frant are lying. And if they are being truthful, doesn't that give me every right to do whatever I have to in order to help them?" Normally at such an early hour hundreds of people would be going about their daily activities, but a small contingent of palace guards maintained an area of control around the pair. Zelda long ago made her dislike of having many guards surrounding her known, but in this situation she conceded that they served a useful purpose.

Link kept pace right of her and slightly behind, once again placing her underneath his watchful gaze. As they walked, his left hand never traveled far from the hilt of the Master Sword. A few palace guards could stop an assassin from coming at her, but they were helpless to prevent an arrow or bolt fired from a window or rooftop from reaching her; a Knight of the Triforce, with the magic of his birthright as an ally, was not.

Gone was Link's jovial attitude from earlier. Now his composure was one of stubborn determination. Determination to protect Zelda now that she was outside the castle's walls, and determination to help those that had cried out to him. She knew the way his mind worked, knew the black and white he often saw in place of gray, and realized that he had already come to a conclusion on the Si'Frant question. This expedition to the Triforce, she feared, would only give him the needed validation to do something foolish.

"I also heard what you didn't want to hear," Zelda said. "Birni couldn't be sure they are dying."

"Even a remote chance is enough to warrant an investigation," he said.

The clop of his boots against stone and the shuffle of her slippers came to a sudden stop. They had arrived.

The Temple of Time was one of Hyrule's oldest and widely recognized constructions. The tall entablature reached upward from the polished stone capital. Gargoyles stood like ominous guardians along the eaves of the temple. This was a place of worship, a place of peace that carried the echo of thousands who had given their lives to preserve that peace. It was also home to the Triforce.

Not bothering to close the solid oak doors behind them, Link and Zelda marched down the marble aisle that ran from entranceway to sanctuary. At the altar, they turned to face each other.

"I wish you would reconsider, Link," Zelda said. "It's not too late to leave."

"I have to know," he said. "I have to know how to help them."

She wanted to scream that it wasn't his concern if they lived for died; their kind had once tried to wipe the Knights of the Triforce from existence—not to mention all that Vox had done. But she knew it wouldn't do any good to yell and argue. Link may argue passionately about free will, but he never failed to join himself to a needy cause. It was his most appealing quality, and his most hazardous.

She bit her tongue and nodded.

Link drew the Master Sword. The sound of metal scraping against finely tooled leather marked it arrival to the world. The air seemed to quake as the Temple's magic responded to the magic of the blade.

Lost ritual of the ceremony, Link brought the sword up before him and kissed the pommel. A sign of commitment between magic and user nearly as old as temple around them.

Link lay the sword down on altar, and, as one, he and Zelda turned to the wall behind the chantry. They pressed their right hands to the wall and felt the stone grow warm.

The grating sound of stone sliding across stone filled the Temple. The double doors at the other side of the chamber blew shut with an echoing bang. The wall slid completely aside revealing a small room bathed in golden light. Above a pedestal in the center of the room was the Triforce, rotating slowly.

Zelda found Link's hand waiting for hers as they gazed in awe at the sight before them. Together, they walked into the Triforce's chamber and stepped atop a raised dais in the shape of three joined triangles. Giving a bow of respect and devotion, the Knight and Princess went to their knees before the pedestal.

"Why have you called upon us?" a feminine voice asked, casting an echo that filled the chamber.

"Courage Blessed seeks your counsel, Triforce," Zelda said, holding her gaze on the floor and not looking to the object of magic above her.

"Speak, Hero," the voice said.

"There are visitors in Hyrule," Link said, adopting Zelda's reverent tone. "They came to me looking for help."

"You speak true. We are aware of the visitors." The voice paused for a moment. "We have not felt the presence of such ancient blood in some time."

"They say they are dying," Link said.

"Again, true. What is your question, Hero?"

"They are asking me to help them avoid death," he said. "But I do not know if they are being truthful."

"You possess many gifts, Hero," the voice said, "but even you cannot stay the darkness that finds all living things. They will die, as will you and Wisdom Blessed. It is the way of life."

"I know they will eventually die," Link said, annoyance entering his tone, "but they say it will come sooner than nature intended without my help."

The voice was silent for a long time and Zelda felt a twinge of worry; the Triforce never had to ponder a question before.

"This...is true," the voice said at last. "However not in the way you believe."

From the corner of her eye, Zelda saw Link frown. "How, then?" he asked.

"The future is fluid," the Triforce said. "Many possibilities, many outcomes, only one can be true. The decision of life and death are often dependent on a single choice. Choose correctly and the outcome of the future is decided; choose wrong and the outcome of the future is decided. Both are correct and both are wrong.

"On the path you have already chosen, Courage Blessed, the time for decision grows near. You did not listen to our wisdom when you last asked for counsel and now must decide again."

"Are you saying you don't know the answer to my question?" Link asked.

"We are saying that such knowledge could airt the possibilities to one outcome. That is not for us to do without first being wished upon."

"How can answering my question affect the future?"

"No mortal should know his or her own future," the Triforce said. "Such knowledge needed to answer your request is dangerous for you to possess. Dangerous for us, dangerous for you, dangerous for the world."

Link turned his head upward and looked at the Triforce. "The Si'Frant are directly related to this country's future?"

"Correct."

"But the Si'Frant _will_ die without my intervention?"

"That statement is true. There is no question."

Link nodded. "Thank you, Triforce." He moved to stand, but the magic pushed him back down.

"You have no questions, Wisdom Blessed?" the Triforce asked.

Zelda shook her head. "No, I do not."

"Then listen to us well." The voice spoke in a tone that made Zelda's skin prickle. "Do not believe because you have no power to stay what might happen your roll is diminished. Do not be afraid to act, or to question. What is, what was, and what will be, may depend upon a single question.

"In time, you will become a seeker of forgotten knowledge. To find what you seek, you must travel far and endure much. Use what you have learned and what we offer or the long dead wishes of the Necromancer Thanos shall be known to the world."

The name Thanos meant nothing to Zelda, but she had learned to accept whatever confusing bits of information the Triforce saw fit to share. "I will remember," she said.

"Then this is ended. Farewell."

The golden light intensified and engulfed all.

* * *

Link and Zelda woke behind the altar.

Wordlessly, Link sheathed the Master Sword and they moved outside. The sun was high in the cloudless, late summer sky. Hours had passed since they entered the Temple of Time.

"Well," Zelda asked, breaking the silence, "did you find what you sought?"

Link shook his head. "I don't know. The answer just leads to more questions."

"You're not still thinking about helping them?" After the ominous words of the Triforce, she had been sure he would think differently.

"What choice do I have, Zelda?" Link countered. "The Si'Frant will die without aid."

"Let them die!" she snapped. "The world will be better off!"

"You can't really believe that," Link said with a shake of his head. "They haven't done anything to us to warrant such disregard for their lives."

"They served Jarod," Zelda said simply.

"So did Glenn, and Mistress Senovich, and nearly everyone else on the staff."

"But not out of choice," Zelda pushed. "A blood spell was cast over them that preyed on fear—fear Jarod harvested, by the way. The Si'Frant had a choice all those years ago. While this country and your ancestors were fighting the war, the Si'Frant _sought_ the Si'Ra out. They willingly entered into a pact with those demons."

Link threw his arms wide. "But why should the children of the children of those Si'Frant be held to the same pact?"

Zelda didn't have an answer for that. Link had always encouraged the belief that everyone was entitled to equal justice—a belief she shared and tried to hold to even in the darkest of times—but the Si'Frant pushed the boundaries of her faith. "I don't want to see you hurt," she said, grasping for an argument he couldn't cut away with logic.

"I have to help them, princess," Link said softly. "They are in need and came to me."

"But why does it have to be you?" Zelda said. "Let them go _bond_ with someone else."

"That would be no different. The Si'Frant would still be slaves, not the free men and women they are by right of birth. It must be me because no one else will think of their needs first."

"I want you to think about yourself first," Zelda said. "You don't have to fight every battle, Link. Sometimes people die even when we don't want them to, and no amount of reasoning or fighting can stop what is inevitable. Let nature take the Si'Frant."

Link suddenly took a step toward her, entering her personal space and coming within an inch from her. She could feel body heat radiating off him. "Tell me to stop," he said in the tone a lover might use when asking for a kiss. "Tell me to stop, not ask me, and I will. For you I'll let them waste away to dust."

Zelda had to look up to meet his blue, hawklike gaze. "You know I can't do that," she said in the same intimate tone. "You're free to choose."

"And they are not," he said finalizing the subject. He took a step back; she found herself slightly regretful. "I'll escort you back to the palace, princess, but then I'm going to take a walk and think this out."

She nodded and fell in step with him as he began walking. Her mind was a jumble of thoughts and emotions. She was fearful for Link, and, of the Triforce's cautionary advice. It was warning her away from something, but what?

* * *

In the wild land beyond Calatia, beyond the forgotten Wasteland of Canor, something woke.

The knowledge of a long dead necromancer was being pulled from the bottomless grave locked by Jarod two thousand years ago when Vox killed that necromancer. The information in that grave, sealed away by the Si'Ra not because of selfish reasons but out of comprehension of the damage that could result from it, was again pouring out into the world.

Magic, old and powerful, began flowing again.

Duncan, alone in the wilderness, was the focus of that magic. In his hands sat a small stone about the size of his index finger. Though he was blind, he could sense the magic building in that stone. Soon he would understand the magic enough to control its flow. Now, he was its slave, but soon it would bend to his will.

At the edge of the known world, beyond the reach of the final Knight of the Triforce, the last Sheikah, and the dying Si'Frant, the Eye of Thanos began to open...

* * *

After seeing Zelda safely back to the palace, Link buried himself in his thoughts and tried to lose himself within the city.

He walked without direction for hours. One street faded into another. He was content; moving was how he did his best work. Stagnation was his enemy. Others could sit about and ponder their troubles, but not him. Action demanded reaction. It was when his body was moving that his thoughts could flow with unimpeded freedom.

He thought about the Si'Frant and how he could help them. He thought about the ramifications of helping them. What would the Knights of old have thought of this dilemma? Would they have offered aid without thought, or would they have shunned the Si'Frant just as quick? Was the race evil because they had been enslaved by the Si'Ra? And if so, did that mean they deserved death? If they were evil, but not deserving of death, did that then mean they should be damned to slavery?

No, he decided, no matter what the Knights of old would have done, he would not condemn anyone to subjugation. Slavery scared Link; being at the whim of another person frightened him to his bones. He knew he would die to protect someone from having to endure slavery—even the Si'Frant.

Coming out of his reverie enough to realize he was walking down a dead-end alley, Link turned and moved to go back. But stopped when he saw a crooked door hanging on loose hinges just several steps away. He had walked to Duncan's home.

Even though years had passed since their first meeting, Link still didn't know if he had found Duncan by chance or if the crafty old man had arranged a conspiracy to bring the Knight to his doorstep. Either way, Link had sought the old man's advice on everything from prophecy to bad weather.

But Duncan was not there now.

He was in Calatia with Impa, and too far away to give Link advice.

Though he knew the house was empty, Link knocked on the door before opening it. The small one-room home was dark—as usual—and carried the musty smell of old books and aged ink. Stacks of scrolls, books, and loose sheets of parchment lay stacked in haphazard piles and tied bundles.

Next to the cold hearth was Duncan's worm chewed 'thought chair'. Link had long suspected that wooden chair to be older than he and Duncan put together. Moving carefully through the clutter, Link sat in the honored chair. It was surprisingly comfortable underneath him. His elbows fell easily into the worn groves made by Duncan's arms as he sat thinking.

There was a book sitting on the three-leg stool in front of the chair. Link frowned. If it were anyone else, he would have thought Duncan had taken that book from its usual place somewhere in the clutter and left it on that stool by mistake. But Duncan was blind and no longer read. Things in the clutter stayed in the clutter.

Link reached for the book and read the lettering written on its binding: _The Legend of a Hero_. His frown deepened. Years ago, when Link was still pursuing anything that dealt with the heritage of the Knights of the Triforce, an author trying to write a history of the Knights had approached him thinking to find grandiose stories of heroics. After learning that Link knew little of the old lore, the author had left him be.

It was several months later that that author published _The Legend of a Hero_. Poorly written, filled with vague tales of improbable feats, and half-truths and many lies, Link had found the book laughable.

Why would Duncan have wanted a copy?

Link opened the book to a page that had been dog-eared:

Of myth and truth, one fact always remains in the lore of the Knights of the Triforce: their unwavering compassion. Empathy was their greatest weapon of all. Empathy bestows understanding. Understanding conquers fear, and leads to friendship and good will. It was said that a Knight would risk all to save his worst enemy so great was their empathy. Some would confuse this empathy as weakness, but in truth, it was a Knight's best asset.

Often a Knight would find allies in unexpected place due to this trait. A soldier will kill until the battlefield is empty; but a Knight will befriend former enemies and forge friendships over old battlegrounds. This succor was always given without force and the Knights never expected anything in return for such generosity.

Oh! Let us hope that such compassion is not forgotten....

Link closed the book with a resounding snap. He threw it toward the nearest pile of books where it landed and caused a small avalanche of scrolls.

"Curse you, Duncan," he said to the empty room.

* * *

"I got 'em for ya, Link," General Glenn Tarmag called as he and several of his soldiers escorted the collection of five Si'Frant into the great hall. The Captain of the Guard, seemingly always at a state of alertness, was even more outfitted than usual this evening. Knifes and throwing darts hung in a brace strapped to his leg, his sword with the palace seal on the hilt sat at his left hip, and a small quiver of quarrels dangled from his right hip.

Link turned away from the dais and faced the Si'Frant. "Thank you, Glenn," he said. "That will be all."

Tarmag's eyes narrowed. "Are ya sure ya don't want me here in case o' trouble?"

Link smiled and shook his head. "There won't be any trouble," he said.

"Aye." With a barely audible sigh, Glenn turned and started for the exit. He left with his soldiers in close tow.

The Si'Frant moved to bow, but Link waved that show of devotion away. "Do you still want my help?" he asked.

"Yes," Pav answered quickly. "You will Bond with us?"

"Tonight?" Vas added. "We could do it here."

Several Si'Frant behind Vas and Pav muttered agreement.

"I'm not going to Bond with you," Link said, "but I will help you."

"How?"

Link smiled. "By destroying the magic of the Bond."

The Si'Frant stared at him, wide-eyed and stunned.

"If you want the help of the Knights of the Triforce," Link said, "join me tomorrow morning at the Temple of Time."


	8. Chapter Eight

****

Chapter Eight

The Si'Frant had another meeting that evening.

After the Knight explained what he was going to do to dispel the magic of the Bond, Pav gathered his party of Si'Frant in the same meeting hall as before. They sat around the pond of clear water and again spoke in their native tongue to prevent the guards from understanding them.

"You cannot agree to this!" Vas said angrily. "This offer is blasphemy of the highest sort!"

Pav raised an eyebrow at her presumptuous and disloyal demeanor. "It is also sincere," he said to the young Si'Frant.

"Is it?" Verr asked. "Could it not be some sort of plot?"

Gil shook his head. "There is no logic in that," he said, automatically taking the opposing argument of his fellow student. "The Knight has shown no malice toward us, just simple ignorance of our ways. I believe him."

"What a surprise," Vas snapped. She turned her hostile gaze to Pav. "Forgive me, leader, but you and your students have always urged the weak solutions to all problems. We cannot do that here. We must fight against this plague, not try to make peace with it."

"Without the Knight's help, whether he can do what he claims or not, we will most certainly die," Verr said. "Is it not better to choose the possibility of life over the certainty of death?"

Vas came to her feet. "Not for us," she hissed. "We are bred to die!"

In the wings of the grand chamber, fifteen palace guards shifted with unease. They fingered their weapons and watched Vas closely.

"Enough of this," Pav said quietly but with enough strength to bring Vas back down to her seat. "I will not tolerate Si'Frant against Si'Frant during this important time." He drew a deep breath and considered the signet ring on his right index finger. The Mik of Canor gave him authority over not just the teaching of the Si'Frant, but also their wellbeing and future survival. To wear the Mik and hold the Criv, one was supposed to be above all that is petty in life, but despite that, Pav had no desire to be remembered as the leader of the Si'Frant that had chosen wrong and damned them all.

"Do you believe this object of magic the Knight described is capable of eliminating the Bond?" he asked the group.

Vas spoke before anyone else. "Yes, it can," she said. "The Triforce of Power is what the Knights of old wished on to imprison the Si'Ra in the underworld."

The entire group looked at her in surprise.

Vas gave a slight bow of abashment. "Vox told me," she explained.

Pav considered her with an unease that had been growing in him for some time. He could still remember the first time he had seen her: she was only four cycles old, and ready to begin training in the dogi with real weapons. Her eyes had been full of ambition, promise, and dreams of greatness.

Pav hadn't agreed with Vox taking over the teaching at the dogi when the Si'Ra returned from his journey, but it hadn't been his place to oppose such a decision. Now, looking into Vas' eyes, he could see that Vox's training had warped much of her promise to blind vengeance. She pushed herself to become a walking weapon without any thought to the price that power demanded.

Unquestioning dedication might be useful to serve at the feet of a god, but to care for those servants in the absent of that god it was counterproductive. Blasphemous, yes, but only one of many lessons the holder of the Criv must know.

"Then it is possible," Verr breathed. "The Bond could be destroyed."

Vas shook her head. "It also means there are other possibilities," she said. "The Triforce imprisoned the Si'Ra and it could be used to free them..."

The debate continued for several more hours. In the end, Pav had to choose the correct path for all of them. As much as he wanted to believe the Knight of the Triforce, he had to think of his people first. The Si'Frant could not be allowed to die—he would not permit it—and the possibility of life was indeed better than the certainty of death. Pav hoped that with the passage of time, the Knight would someday understand the difficulties of such a decision. Verr and Gil opposed the final decision, but conceded that it was his right to choose for all involved. Vas and Xis agreed with the idea, and Vas had only one request that Pav granted.

And so the last leader of the Si'Frant made his decision.

Prophecy continued to wind.

* * *

Zelda, followed closely by a unit of guards, arrived last at the Temple of Time the next morning. The scene that greeted her was an odd one: Link stood next to the group of Si'Frant surrounded by a massive force of palace soldiers. He was talking to both Si'Frant and guardsmen, waving his arms and giving instructions.

It rained last night and, though it had since stopped, moisture still permeated the air. A fine mist blew against exposed skin and a thick layer of clouds masked the sun from view. On another day, Zelda would have enjoyed this type of day. She would have stolen a few moments out of her busy schedule to savor a cup of warm tea in front of a fire, but there was nothing to enjoy today. She disagreed heartily with Link's decision, but a night spent examining law books confirmed what she had suspected and Link knew. Despite her royal authority, she had no power to stay his decision.

Zelda started for Link, but stopped when she heard Glenn Tarmag call her name.

The burly Captain of the Guard pushed his way through the throng of armed men. Zelda noted that Glenn had taken to wearing more armaments than usual since the Si'Frant had arrived in Hyrule. Today, he was clad in a heavy coat of chainmail with a hood to protect his head. In addition to his palace sword on his back, he wore a brace of knifes strapped low on one leg, a half-moon battle-ax from one hip, and a small, single shot crossbow from the other hip. He looked like a man ready to fight a war single-handed.

"Thank the Light ya are here, Princess," he said, reaching her and snapping off a sharp salute.

Zelda waved a weak salute back. "I think my presence is mandatory," she said dryly.

"Canna ya talk Link out o' this?" Glenn asked.

"I have already tried," Zelda said, stealing at glance at the Knight and his assemblage. "He's set on doing this."

"But he canna just give them the Triforce!" Glenn's sharp tone betrayed his worry. "Ya got to have a say in giving it away."

"It's not ours to give," Zelda said. "The Triforce belongs to everyone; Link and I are just keepers of its worldly aspects. The policy the throne has always adopted is that the Knights of the Triforce have the right to determine who can and who cannot wish upon the Triforce.

"If I rescind that agreement now, there is no place for the Knights because I would be saying the final ruling is mine, not theirs. I'm not ready to do that for the agreement has saved this world from unscrupulous rulers many times in the past. It is not my place to say what is right—not in this, anyway."

"And it's suddenly Link's place?" Glenn demanded.

"In this," Zelda answered calmly, "it is. I don't like this any more than you do, Glenn, but I have to abide by the law. It's Link's job to guard the Triforce from misuse, and if he thinks this is necessary, then I have to agree with him and trust he will do what is right for all of us. Be ready for anything; that's all I can tell you." She started for Link again.

"Princess," Glenn said, stopping her. "There's one more thing." He waved someone in the crowd of soldiers forward.

Zelda was surprised to see one of her stewards holding a brown cloak emerge from the throng of palace guards.

When she glanced back to Tarmag, she saw him unhooking the small crossbow from his belt.

* * *

"I'm glad you could join us, Zelda," Link said.

She gave a small smile that he knew was forced. "Where else would I be?"

He wanted to reassure her that he knew what he was doing, but didn't know what else to say to convince her. Talking to Zelda, in matters of importance or triviality, was always easy for him, but, when it came to matters pertaining to the Si'Frant, he couldn't find the words to make her see them the same way he did. She just had to trust his judgement.

"I don't believe you were introduced to the other Si'Frant," he said, leading her forward with a hand on the small of her back. "This is Vas, next to her is Verr, next to her is Gil, Xis, and you know Pav."

As one, the gray clad Si'Frant bowed at the waist. Zelda gave a diplomatic nod in the direction of the group. "Hello to you all," she said.

"Well—"Link clapped his hands together—"should we get started?"

The Si'Frant nodded and the palace guards muttered their disapproval. As Link led the group into the temple, Zelda made eye contact with Glenn. He gave a minute nod and cleared his sword from its scabbard.

Link shut the double doors behind Zelda. "Are you cold, princess?" he asked just loud enough for her ears.

Zelda fingered the brown cloak draped over her shoulders. "A little chilly," she said.

The Si'Frant looked at the Temple of Time with awe. They gawked at the high ceiling and marble fixtures. "What will we have to do, Master Link?" Vas asked.

"Beyond this room," Link said, "is the Triforce. One of you shall accompany me to the platform, and together we will touch the Triforce and wish." He looked at Zelda and she gave a shrug of concession.

"Is it necessary for both of us to touch the Triforce?" Pav asked.

"No," Link said. "But the Triforce reads the intent of the wish maker, not just the words spoken by him or her. I shall act as a filter so you do not wish for something none of us wants."

Vas gave a cool smile. "Such as bringing back the Si'Ra?" she asked.

Link shifted uncomfortably from foot to foot. "Yes."

Pav placed a hand on Vas's wiry shoulder and said, "Then let us end this debate and do what must be done."

"Princess?" Link said.

Zelda followed him to the altar. "Can you even begin to conceive of how many reservations I have about this?" she whispered to him.

"I have an idea," he said in the same tone.

"I hope you're right."

Link smiled. "Have faith, Zelda." He drew the Master Sword, kissed the pommel, and placed it on the altar. Together, he and Zelda turned to the wall behind the sanctuary.

* * *

As the Triforce room opened, golden light spilled out into the main hall. The shadows cast by the Si'Frant grew until they filled the entire front wall of the temple. Their eyes widened as they caught sight of the Triforce.

Link turned. "Pav?"

The elder Si'Frant stepped forward. The rest of the group moved near the altar, giving each an unhampered view of the Triforce room. Zelda looked on from the edge of the sanctuary, doing her best to watch Link and Pav and the rest of the Si'Frant at once.

Link and Pav linked arms and started for the Triforce.

"What will happen when we touch the relic?" Pav asked.

"It will reach into you," Link answered. "It will read your words and your intent, and try to reconcile each into a single wish. Don't worry, it will be done before you know it."

They reached the raised platform in the shape of the joined Triforce and stepped onto it. The golden light of the Triforce intensified and seemed to encircle the platform.

Pav looked back and nodded before the light swallowed him.

Zelda's guard rose when she saw that nod. She looked to the waiting Si'Frant. She could see no weapons on any of them, and doubted they could have gotten anything past Glenn. Link had told her that Vox had been well trained in hand to hand combat, but none of the four Si'Frant in front of her were moving.

Vas suddenly bowed her head, took three deep breaths and released them in quick puffs, then fell with catlike grace into a squat. She reached for the lip of her left boot and began rapidly picking at a small tear in the leather. Zelda frowned. The female Si'Frant repeated the picking motion once more and then stopped. The tear was now bigger and Vas was able to slip her first three fingers into the lining of her boot. Then, with a horrifying realization, Zelda saw the glint of metal in Vas' hand.

Zelda reached into the folds of her cloak. "Link, it's a trap!" she called.

In the time it took to say those four words, Vas had straightened and began running toward the Triforce room. As she ran, Vas brought her right hand over her left to better grip the long, thin knife she'd removed from her boot. She was a blur as she moved toward the Knight of the Triforce, bodkin held high.

Zelda's cloak parted as she brought a small, single shot crossbow to bear. Without conscious thought, she pulled the release. The bolt left the weapon with a solid _thwack_.

Vas reached the doorway of the Triforce room and stumbled. The knife fell from limp fingers and clattered against the marble floor. The Si'Frant tried to brace herself as she fell, but her strength failed and she continued to the floor without slowing. The crossbow bolt was imbedded firmly in her side. The butt end of the bolt angled slightly as the tip scraped against a rib and deflected outward.

Seeing his comrade fall, Pav twisted away from Link and tried to force him from the platform. Caught off guard, the Knight stumbled back but did not leave the platform. Pav reached for the Triforce. "Know my choice and grant my wish!" he exclaimed.

Still looking dazed, Link lunged forward and caught Pav's outstretched hand. The two men foundered and fell from the platform. They fought for dominance as they slid across the Triforce chamber floor.

"Help me!" Pav said to his brethren.

Xis came forward, vaulting over Vas without a second look, and started for the Triforce room. Gil and Verr strangely hung back, as thought unsure about entering the fight.

Zelda silently thanked Glenn for forcing her to take the crossbow, then cursed him for not giving her more than a single bolt. She threw the useless weapon at Xis and fell into a combat stance. The Si'Frant would have to kill her to make it to the Triforce.

* * *

All breath left Link's lungs as Pav kicked him in the ribs. The Knight drew back, trying to protect himself from the next blow. He was unsuccessful. Pav's follow through caught him in the temple and sent him sliding across the marble floor. He came to a rest against the joined Triforce shaped platform. He rolled onto his side with a groan.

He was wrong. The Si'Frant had betrayed him. 'Why?' he wondered. Why hadn't they wanted freedom? Could their loyalty to the Si'Ra run that deep? Or did they fear being free that much? So much fear that they would rather serve the dead than live for themselves?

Link blinked away spots and tried to get his limbs to work together properly. He had to stop them. The Si'Frant could not be allowed to use the Triforce to free the Si'Ra from the underworld. He could almost feel the disappointed gazes of all the Knights that had died to prevent what was now happening.

He reached for the Master Sword, but found its sheath empty. He wanted to curse but didn't have the time to spare. His left hand started to itch.

Out of the corner of his vision he saw Zelda shout a challenge and lunge at the approaching Si'Frant.

Link pushed himself up on his elbows. Pav was again on the platform; he reached for the Triforce.

The Knight of the Triforce cast out his hand and called the power of the Master Sword. In all of his years joined with the blade's magic, it had never responded to him without the sword being in contact with his skin, but this time had to be different. Link had no training with the power, had no education in magic, but he knew that this time had to be different or the Si'Ra were going to return. There was no time.

Lightning, hot and white, erupted between his hand and the altar in the main chamber. Surrounded by crackling fingers of magic, the Blade of Evil's Bane sprang into the air and heeded its master's call. The hilt slammed into Link's outstretched palm and he and the magic were one.

Lightning filled the Temple of Time, a mirror to his own anger. Like hunters seeking prey the fingers of sputtering magic moved up the platform at the speed of thought and wrapped Pav in a pain filled embrace. The elder Si'Frant screamed and the smell of burning flesh filled the chamber. He fell from the platform to the marble floor, twisting in torment as the lightning continued to rake over his body.

Xis ducked underneath Zelda's swing and drove his fist into her stomach. She doubled over but still managed to hook an arm around his waist and prevent him from reaching the Triforce room. He stepped back into her hold, twisted, and broke free. With several long strides, he left Zelda behind and stormed into the Triforce chamber.

Link came to his feet. He locked gazes with Xis and raised the Master Sword. The Knight of the Triforce fed his wrath into the magic as the blade's point centered on the black heart hidden by that gray tunic. With an ear-splitting crack, the Master Sword flashed incandescent and a phantom of the sword sprang from the blade.

The mirror of the Master Sword flashed across the distance between Link and Xis and hit the Si'Frant with a resounding thump. The force of the blow lifted Xis from his feet and threw him to the front of the temple. The phantom blade buried itself to the hilt in his chest and emerged from his back. He hit the front wall, stuck for a moment, and then slid to the ground. The phantom sword flickered once, twice, thrice, and vanished.

Link held the Master Sword with both hands and walked forward. Lightning struck his body, wrapped around his legs, and stabbed at his heart. The sword's magic protected him.

Vas, still prone in the mouth of the Triforce chamber, pushed slowly up on her elbows. Her entire body trembled with pain and the exertion to best that pain. Long strings of spittle connected the corners of her mouth to the floor. She reached for the bodkin next to her, fumbled with it twice, and climbed to her feet.

The Knight of the Triforce watched the rising threat without reaction. "Stop," he commanded her.

Vas was beyond hearing. Blood darkened most of her tunic. Her breathing was labored. The bolt had injured something inside of her. She gripped the knife with shaking hands and raised it above her head.

"Stop," Link said again. His tone and bearing were without emotion. Dimly, he wondered if it was the magic or the betrayal that had stolen all feeling from him.

Vas came at him with a weak scream. Link stood wrapped in a cloak of magic and watched her come. He watched the well-trained muscles move underneath her skin; he observed the hole in her boot, the edges frayed just slightly; and saw the unleashed anger and determination in her gaze.

At three paces away, the knife started to descend. Link never felt his arms move. A wave of magic passed through him and Link heard his wrists pop and saw the Master Sword rise sharply to impale Vas. The sword entered just below her breasts, severed her spinal cord, and exited out her back.

Link held Vas' gaze as gravity pulled her to the ground before him. The bodkin fell from useless hands. The light of life vanished from Vas' eyes and her final breath left her lungs with a rattle. She slid down the blood slick blade to the floor of the Temple of Time.

"Pointless," Link muttered. Anger starting to eat away at the nothingness he'd been feeling.

Zelda, who had been standing wide-eyed off to the side, started for Link, but he waved her back. This was not yet over. The magic called for its due.

The Knight of the Triforce stepped calmly around Vas' body and started to the two Si'Frant still standing. Verr and Gil stood frozen with shock of seeing their leader injured and companions killed.

The distance between Link and the Si'Frant vanished in a blink. Verr was closer than Gil by a few paces and because of that she became the Knight's target. The point of the Master Sword was at her throat before she had time to even comprehend what was about to happen.

"Live or die?" Link asked her.

Verr didn't answer.

The magic of the sword demanded release. If the Knight wouldn't take vengeance, the magic would. Forgiveness was a trait of the Knights, not the magic they commanded.

"Live or die?!" Link yelled. He pressed the sword closer until a thin line of black blood ran down Verr's neck and vanished underneath the collar of her tunic.

Verr had no answer for him. In that moment, all of Pav's teachings failed her. She could not choose.

Link considered that. In a way, he realized, she was making a choice by not choosing. The implications of that struck him and made him think about the past three days. He suddenly understood what the Knights of old would have done in his situation. The answer was so simple it was laughable. Perhaps the Si'Frant could be made to understand as well...

And on that thought alone, Link withdrew the sword. He forced the magic and his own darkness down and let the Si'Frant live.


	9. Chapter Nine

****

Chapter Nine

It was the feel of the warm, late day sun against her face that woke Impa. She opened her eyes and sat up with a start. Grogginess still pulled at her despite many hours of sleep. Why had she slept so long?

She looked about the small campsite and tried to gather her thoughts. After discovering the large tomb in the Chamber of Tears, she had agreed with Duncan to return to Hyrule. Impa concluded that she would not be the discoverer of any items of great power in the Chamber of Tears. She'd never been as unnerved by a place as she had been in that haunted tomb. No object of magic, no matter how great, was worth the price of uncovering the secrets of that abominable place.

She and Duncan had promptly set out across the Wasteland of Canor bound for the passage through north Calatia. They had quickly fallen into their previous routine of one sleeping while the other kept watch over the camp, so why hadn't Duncan roused her?

Thinking that he had dozed while on watch, she came to her feet and ran her gaze along the edge of their camp, looking for him. But the campsite was empty; Duncan was gone.

"Duncan?" Impa called, concerned. Only her echo and the blowing winds of Canor answered. At one side of the camp, where she had tied Epona and Hard Biscuit the night before, Epona stood alone. The mare gave a snort and shook her tail.

"Did you see what happened to him?" Impa asked the horse before realizing the foolishness of doing so.

Epona gave another snort and turned her head to the side. Impa followed the beast's gaze; a clear set of horse tracks left the camp and vanished into the wilds of Canor.

A search of her belongings revealed what Impa had already guessed: Duncan had taken half of their survival supplies, but left the tomes taken from the Chamber, and had vanished with Hard Biscuit.

Impa slowly turned about, taking in the area around her. Low hanging clouds masked the sky while the skeletons of grand trees stood all around her like gravemarkers to long dead giants. Gray sand, stirred by strong gales, funneled upward in fierce sand devils along the stretches of plain and long dead forest. She could see for a hundred miles in every direction, but could make out nothing living.

She was completely alone.

* * *

Zelda found him in her private garden. She paused for a moment in the entranceway and considered the irony; it was usually Link to come here and give her counsel. She steeled herself to play his part and started for him.

Link stood at the edge of the garden, but seemed not to be admiring the late blooming roses. The smell of moss, wet flowers, and fresh earth filled the air. The clouds that had obscured the sky for most of the day had slid to the north and west revealing a deep black sky filled with stars. The quarter moon hung low in the sky rendering the dimmest of stars visible.

Zelda's slippered feet were silent upon the soft ground, but she knew he could sense her. Link could always sense her approach; a hunter's perception mixed with their years of shared friendship had given him an exceptional recognition of her.

"A rupee for your thoughts," she said.

He was quiet for a long moment. "I was thinking of when we were children," he said at last. "You would wait for me here and I would sneak you out of the palace. We would go into the city and spend one careless moment after the other. We were invincible, then."

Zelda smiled. "You used to buy me hedge cakes."

He turned slightly so he could see her out of his peripheral vision. "A kitchen full of chefs and you loved the cheapest, greasiest thing in all of Hyrule."

"The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence," she said with a small shrug.

"Yeah, that's what I thought."

Zelda reached out and touched his shoulder. "The other side can also be frightening," she said.

"I wanted to believe them so much," he said. "Slaves with their shackles cut, striving to reach the light of freedom. They played me like a master songsmith plucking a new tune. I don't know, being here with you at the palace again after so long...I was caught with my guard down. That is a mistake I shall not make again. I should have listened to you, Zelda—I should have listened to everyone that told me this was a bad idea."

She shook her head. "You offered them compassion. It was probably the first time anyone had held a hand out to them."

"I was told a story once as a child," he said. "I thought I knew the moral, but I don't think I realized its true meaning until tonight. A beaver came upon a scorpion standing next to a river. The scorpion begged the beaver to take him across, but the beaver said 'no, you will sting me if I come near'. But the scorpion swore on his honor that he would not sting the beaver.

"The beaver came in close and the scorpion kept his word. The scorpion climbed onto the beaver's back and together they started across the river. Halfway across, the scorpion, unable to control himself, stung the beaver.

"And, as the beaver started to sink underneath the current, he looked back and said, 'Fool, now we'll both die'. The scorpion apologized, but said he is a scorpion and it was his nature to sting. They died together."

Zelda felt a chill work up her arms. "You could not have known," she said. "The Si'Frant betrayed all of us—themselves included. You are not to blame."

"I am to blame," he corrected. "Because of my wish to see them free, I was blinded to their scheme to restore the Si'Ra. They nearly had the Triforce because of my failing."

Zelda didn't know what to say. She, too, was a guardian of the Triforce, but could only imagine what the mantle of the Knights of the Triforce felt like. "Listen to me," she said, "your compassion is not a failing; it is a gift to me and to the rest of the world. I would fear for your competence if you did not wish to see everyone helped."

Link smiled slightly. "Hopefully, you and the world will survive such a gift," he said.

"We'll get by," Zelda said. "I doubt you would let us not."

He seemed to accept that.

Zelda considered the ground for a long moment before continuing. "I just got out of several very long meetings," she began. "Glenn Tarmag spent three hours trying to convince me that you are about to unleash a clear and immediate threat on Hyrule. He was pretty convincing."

"You're free to choose, Zelda," he said, throwing her words from the day before back at her. "And so are they."

"Could you say something a little more persuasive than that?"

"There is nothing more to say," he said. "It makes no sense to keep them locked away for what will probably be the last year of their life.

"If you want more than that...well, go tell your advisors that I am doing what I should have done three days ago. Somewhere in between debating whether I had the right to help the Si'Frant, I lost sight of exactly _how_ to help them. I tried to give them something that wasn't mine to give.

"The only way to give someone freedom is to show them the path and hope against all reason that they follow it."

Zelda sighed and nodded.

Link gave her a smile. "Besides," he said, "if I'm wrong, and the borders of Hyrule are suddenly besieged by an army of Si'Frant, Glenn can just put you on the front line with a loaded crossbow."

Zelda laughed. "Yeah, well, I think I had some Triforce help with that shot."

"I think I had some of that help, too," Link admitted. "I doubt I could command the magic that way or call the lightning down again."

"Let's hope you never again have need for the lightning," Zelda said. She stretched on her toes, turned his head to face her, and kissed him lightly on the lips. "Are you going to be okay?"

He nodded an affirmative. "I have to go," he said. "I have an appointment to keep."

"If you want to talk later, I'll be in my chambers," she said.

"I know."

Zelda watched as Link walked away. At the edge of her garden, he stopped and glanced over his shoulder.

"Zelda," he said. "I won't disappoint you again."

She shrugged. "You haven't yet."

Link nodded again and pushed aside several bushes and started down a path not used since a young knight had surprised a young princess with a basket full of her favorite cakes years earlier. He moved confidently over the perilous path of cracked cobblestones. With his head down but shoulders square and ready to again take on the weight of the world, he was the archetype of a beaten but not defeated warrior.

* * *

The Si'Frant thought they were about to be executed when they were pulled from their cells in the middle of the night. Glenn Tarmag, carrying nearly his own weight in weapons and armor, led the assemblage out of the dungeons and to the courtyard where twelve mounted palace guard waited. When those mounted guards, along with Glenn Tarmag, led them out of the castle and away from the city, the Si'Frant were sure they were going to be executed.

They came to a stop in a glade not far from the road that had brought them to Hyrule from Canor. A cloaked figure sat waiting for them on a rock. For a long, forbidding moment no one spoke. The Si'Frant looked from the twelve guards behind them to the single man in front of them, as though trying to discern which posed the greater threat.

The cloaked figure came to his feet and pushed back his hood. It was Link. "Unlock their chains," he ordered.

Glenn Tarmag dismounted and did so, giving each Si'Frant a sneer as he slipped the key into the locks.

Link nodded his thanks and said to the guards, "You may leave now."

The soldiers grumbled in disapproval, but did as ordered. Glenn was the last to leave; he gave Link a long and hard look before mounting up and riding after his men.

"Come forward, Pav," Link said.

The elder Si'Frant looked to his brethren and then stepped toward the Knight. The burns on his body screamed with pain as he did so, but he ignored it. "Are you our executioner?" he asked.

"I don't know," Link said. "You might be mine, but either way we will not know tonight. You have committed no crimes against Hyrule; you lied to me, abused my trust, but did nothing to the throne. Xis and Vas attacked the Princess, but I already sentenced them. The rest of you are free to go."

Pav frowned. "You would let us go free?"

Link nodded. "Leave this country," he said. "Go back to wherever you came from, or vanished into the Great Sea for all I care. But you will not find refuge in Hyrule while I still live."

Link turned back to the rock he had been sitting on and picked up a long, wrapped bundle from the ground. He unfurled the wrapping to reveal a halberd. "This was Vox's," he said. "More than once it nearly ended my life. By your rules, it would seem it became mine when I killed Vox. That said, I give it to you, Pav." He held the spear out toward the Si'Frant.

Pav looked at the proffered weapon with an expression of awe. "Why would you do this?" he asked.

"It is a Si'Frant weapon and belongs with the Si'Frant," Link said. "I don't know if Vox had kin or anyone to leave behind, but if he did, I think they should have this."

Reverently, Pav took the halberd. "Thank you, Knight."

"You have been given another chance," Link said, addressing not only Pav but also all of the Si'Frant. "I don't know how long you have left, but try to use your time to embrace what lesser men discard without thought. The future can be a fearful thing, but you must face it to break free of slavery.

"The Si'Frant are fighters, trained since birth to bow to the command of others. Well, I am now giving you a new challenge: take all that the Si'Ra have given you to serve them, and _make_ those skills serve you. Fight to live, not just to exist. Learn the different between the two or die trying."

Pav drew a shaky breath when Link finished speaking. "I would have danced on your grave, Knight," he said.

Link shrugged and offered his hand. "And I would pay respects to yours. Farewell, Pav."

Si'Frant and Knight of the Triforce shook hands. "Perhaps there may be peace one day between our peoples," Pav said, releasing Link's hand.

Link shook his head. "I am the last Knight and the Si'Frant are dying. At best, there may be peace between the people that men like you and I fight for."

Pav smiled and turned away. He used the halberd as a walking stick and led Verr and Gil to the main road.

Link watched them go. "Until our next battle, Pav," he muttered, then started back toward the castle. High above them, the ageless stars and quarter moon watched and waited for what was to come.

****

End.

****

Afterword

Okay, I'll confess. This is a middle child story. When I sat down to write a follow up to _Darkness Rising_ that could be read independently of _Darkness_, I quickly realized that I was going to need a much longer story to deal with all the plot points I left unaddressed. I realized that I could either scrap what I had been writing (this story) or I could write a second story carrying on the story lines of both _Darkness_ and _Rage_. By then I had already grown attached to the Si'Frant, and couldn't kill them all with a swift punch of my delete key.

So, for any of you readers that felt things were left too up in the air with Duncan and Impa, just wait for _Path of Sins_, which should be released within a week or two. Until then, I hope you all enjoyed this story and I'll happily hear any comments or criticisms you have.

Alex Foster

October 30, 2002


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